


Two Sides of the Same Coin

by Ralcemns



Category: Undercurrent
Genre: F/M, rated teen for same such things as book
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-09-18
Updated: 2016-09-23
Packaged: 2018-08-15 15:03:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 4,443
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8061046
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ralcemns/pseuds/Ralcemns
Summary: Jagan and Cosmo have the sensitive Harris nose and their father's shining green eyes along with their mother's beautiful brown hair. They also look identical to each other.





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> I just finished the book, like, two hours ago, it was one of the best things I've ever read!
> 
> Also, this is like, what, my third story about twins here on Ao3? Definitely not my third story about twins overall. What is it with my obsession with twins?

It was the dead of night. Callum was soaked not only by the spray of the thundering waterfall next to him, but from the pouring rain that Willow's umbrella failed to shield.

"I just don't think it's safe to send a living being down a waterfall," she worried, sure to keep the bundle in her arms, if not anything else, dry.

"I survived this waterfall twice, remember," Callum reminded her. "Plus, she said she'd be sure to send him safely. She wouldn't dare hurtー"

He was quickly cut off once he noticed something bob to the surface.

Callum neared as close to the river as he dared, backing up as he saw the item flow along with the current. The item neared the edge, too; Callum scooped it up and brought it back to Willow.

"Is he okay?" Willow asked frantically.

Callum opened the item and peered inside, its contents raising quite the racket. He gave a soft smile nonetheless.

"Yeah," Callum affirmed. "He's okay."


	2. Chapter 2

"Jagan!" Cosmo called, opening his brother's door just enough to pop his head in. "You wanna go up to the falls?"

Jagan spun around in his desk chair to face him. "Sure, just a sec," he said. He reached his hand back over to his computer and saved his work before strolling over to his closet to grab his shoes.

"How's the writing going?" Cosmo inquired while he waited, leaning on the doorframe.

"It's going," Jagan replied. It was what he'd taken a moment to save.

He went up to the door, but Cosmo didn't move out of the way. Jagan gave him a look asking why, but Cosmo waited a few moments to see if he'd figure it out himself.

"Glasses," Cosmo finally told him.

"Oh, right," Jagan remembered. Somehow he was the one to end up with them, his twin still with perfect eyes. The difference probably lay in the extreme contrast of how much time he and Cosmo spent staring at screens, which was mostly why Jagan always forgot to wear his glasses. He took them off whenever he went on the computer, which must've been way too often for his own good.

"You know what I keep telling you..." Cosmo teased.

"I know, I know, 'get contacts'," Jagan recited, applying his face-ware. He would follow that advice if he wasn't so bothered by the idea of sticking something directly onto his eyeball.

"Alright, let's go," he said, and Cosmo lead the way through the hall and down the stairs.

"Mom! We're going to the falls!" Cosmo announced.

"Don't fall!" their mother warned.

Cosmo chuckled. "We're not Dad!" he replied, earning one from her, too.

As the two hiked up the path, Cosmo was visibly enjoying the scenery. Nature was one of his favorite things, just behind music. He'd gotten that from their mother and partially their father, while Jagan got the more bookish sides of them both; his father's eye for reading and his mother's ability to do well in school.

While the boys looked the same, Cosmo was just a bit stronger, so Jagan was winded by the time they reached the bridge, unlike him. They weren't expecting who was on it.

"Oh, hello Mr. Schroeder, Mr. Schroeder," Cosmo greeted," ... and Mr. Schroeder." The third one wasn't one to typically be on this side of the waterfall.

The three identical men looked nervous to see the two identical boys. "Uh, hello Cosmo, Jagan," the first one greeted back. "What brings you here?"

"Just wanted to see the falls," Cosmo replied. He was always more of a talker than Jagan. "What about you?"

The three shifted. "Just... checking something," the third answered hesitantly. That's when Jagan noticed the small device in his hand.

"Should we go?" Jagan asked.

"No, no, you're fine," the first assured them, but they only stood awkwardly.

"Is there something wrong with the portal?" Cosmo inquired.

"Not with the portal, no," the second answered.

 _Something's wrong with the other side,_ Jagan deduced, but he said nothing.

Cosmo sensed the tension and acted accordingly. "Well, this is the falls that we've seen a million times, Jagan, let's head back," he decided aloud, and they walked back across the bridge.

One the way down, they suddenly heard someone coughing wetly. The boys gave each other a confused look, then rushed towards the sound.

The source turned out to be a girl looking like she'd just climbed out of the river. She was sopping wet.

"Hey! Are you okay?" Cosmo asked as he jogged over to help her. Jagan followed, but stood around like an idiot. He was horrible at helping people.

To their suprise, the girl kept up and socked Cosmo in the jaw, knocking him to the ground. Then she started running towards the trees like mad, only to stop at the edge of them in confusion.

"Wait, where am I?" she questioned. Cosmo was sat up slowly, rubbing the sore spot she gave him.

"Crystal Falls," Jagan answered stupidly. _She's from Crystal Falls, be it this one or the other!_  he scolded to himself. "Er, waitー"

"This is not Crystal Falls," the girl denied, turning to face them. "Crystal Falls doesn't have trees."

"Pardon?" Jagan said. He found it hard to believe that there were any any trees on the other side.

"And I've never seen either of you before," she realized.

Cosmo raised his hand into the air briefly before standing up. "I'm Cosmo Harris, and this isー" He didn't get a chance to finish before she punched him again. Jagan shrank away as she raised her hand towards him, fearing he would be next.

"Where the hell am I that there's two more filthy Harrises?!" she demanded to know, grabbing the collar of Jagan's shirt and brining his face threateningly close to hers.

"You passed through the portal, now _please_ calm down," Cosmo pleaded from the ground.

The girl released her grip on Jagan with a shove. "You're saying to me that this is an alternate dimension or something?"

"Yeah," Cosmo confirmed, "so well just go back to the top of the falls and get you back, okay?" He stood up for the second time.

The girl laughed. "Ha! Like I'd go back there!"

"You don't want to?" Cosmo wondered.

"Hell no!" the girl exclaimed. "The apocalypse going down there!"


	3. Chapter 3

"Apocalypse?!" Cosmo exclaimed.

"Not on the large scale that you're probably thinking of," the girl clarified, "but everybody calls it the Apocalypse of Crystal Falls. That ol' rust-bucket of a town has finally broken down."

So something is wrong on the other side, Jagan concluded, recalling their earlier encounter with the Schroeders.

"But you can't just up and stay here," Cosmo reasoned. "At least let us take you up to the top of the falls so we can ask the Schroedersー"

"They aren't there," Jagan interrupted, shading his eyes to look up at the bridge. "They either left down the stairs or down the falls."

"Well, let's take you to our parents, then, and ask them," Cosmo suggested instead.

"I don't wanna see another Harris for as long as I live!" the girl complained. "I'm staying right here in this version of Crystal Falls, away from your stupid family."

"Why are you so against Harrises?!" Cosmo questioned.

"They're part of the reason the town finally broke, not to mention the main cause of all the underground activity," the girl briefly explained.

Cosmo sighed. "Okay, listenー who are you?"

"Cris," the girl answered, crossing her arms.

"ーlisten, Cris, our family is different from the Harrises you know," Cosmo explained. "We'll just take you to our house, you can explain your situation to our parents, and then they can get you to where you need to be."

Cris looked him up and down suspiciously. "It'll cost you seven chocolate bars."

Both Jagan and Cosmo stood with a cross between a confused and concerned expression on their faces.

"You want... chocolate bars?" Cosmo reiterated.

"Hey! I've already had enough of those looks from the dealers! Promise the chocolate bars or I'm out!" Cris growled.

"Whatever, seven chocolate bars," Cosmo promised. "Now come on."

Cris followed as Cosmo lead with Jagan at his brother's side. They wanted desperately to discuss the oddity that was this girl they found in the river, but they couldn't do it in front of her. Especially not when Cosmo was still aching from her last two attacks.

When they got home, they saw that not only was their mom there, but their dad had gotten home from work. That would either prove to be a good thing or a bad thing, depending on how Cris reacted.

"Hey!" their mom greeted from the living room. Her smile faded slightly when she saw their gruff-looking guest. "... Who's your friend?"

"Cris. We pulled her out of the river," Cosmo said.

"I pulled myself out, thanks," Cris spat.

A look of understanding crossed Willow's face before she called out to her husband. "Callum! The boys pulled someone out of the river!"

Cris muttered about having pulled herself out as Callum came down the stairs and entered the room. He cocked his head a little, observing the newcomer, but dismissed whatever he was thinking.

"You could've sent her back over," he pointed out.

"She refused," Cosmo said, taking a seat next to his mom on the couch. Jagan did the same. "And she wants seven chocolate bars for this visit, by the way."

His dad suddenly snapped his fingers and pointed at Cris. "That's who you look like! You're Bryce's kid!"

"We hate you, by the way," Cris growled.

"Not me, you hate Cal," Callum clarified.

"Same difference," Cris grumbled.

"Anyways, have a seat," Callum offered. "Explain why you refuse to go back to the other side. And why you hate Cal. Didn't he turn himself in years ago?"

Cris moved to the center of the living room, but didn't sit. "No idea. He was practically the king of the market about seventeen years ago, though. And his daughter's sure done a hell of a lot of damage!"

Willow and Callum flashed a quickly look at Jagan, for what reason he didn't know.

"Actually, we've heard a bit about her. But not much," Callum sad. "Care to elaborate?"

"She's the queen of the market, some say. Me? I say she's beyond the market," Cris began. "There's the first tier, the buyers. The second tier sells the goods. The third tier is the bounty hunters, the ones who aren't afraid to get their hands dirty. The ones too skilled for the police to catch. Kay is beyond that."

"The market? Like, the black market?" Callum asked.

"If you wanna call it that," Cris answered, shrugging. "If it wasn't there before, it got there just as the town finally crashed. There was no tourism to hold it up because of the muddy waterfall and that company that rolled in to cut down all the trees, so everything closed, and jobs were lost. Everyone who could move out hiked their asses outta there, so everyone who couldn't had to start dealing. Students were either expelled or dropped out on their own, which lost a lot of people their jobs at schools. Soon, the only way to get money was to sell people, pictures of people, or drugs. Unless you sold drugs legally at Holden's, who practically owns the town, especially since his son hooked up with a rich Joanson, but that doesn't pay as much. Neither does becoming a police officer, which few have opted for."

"Holden and Joanson? Is that Hunter and Ivy?" Willow wondered.

"Beats me. I only know faces," Cris said. "I'd like my seven chocolate bars now."

"We'll get you your chocolate, but I'm afraid you're gonna have to go back," Callum decided.

"What?!" Cris whined. She stomped her foot. "No way I'm going back to that hellhole of a Crystal Falls!"

"Well, the Bryce here had a little girl recently, and we can't have you around if she ends up looking like you," Callum reasoned.

 _That doesn't seem very likely,_ Jagan thought to himself.

Cris gave him a brief glare before her demeanor shifted unexpectedly. "Alright. It'll cost you one more chocolate bar, though."

"Alright," Callum reaffirmed. "Boys, go out to get the chocolate. Your mom and I'll take Cris to the falls so that she has to wait for her candy before she can make any moves."

"Yup," Cosmo confirmed, Jagan nodding along. They did as they were told, driving out to the store (and getting a strange look from the cashier) before meeting up with their parents.

As they approached the top once again, Jagan remembered that they'd seen the Schroeders just before finding Cris and hadn't told their parents about it. He decided he'd have to mention it once they got Cris back to the right side of the falls.

Cris stuffed her chocolate into her still wet sweatshirt pocket before readying herself at the railing, which had twice as many bars installed some years ago to prevent further accidents.

She bent her knees, prepared to jump, but suddenly spun around and grabbed the shirt collar of a Harris twin in each hand before leaning backwards and hauling them into the water along with her.

Callum and Willow were left dumbfounded, leaning over the railing, gazing into the misty current to reach out for their sons just a bit too late.

"So," Callum sighed in defeat after a moment. "Wanna get some disguises?"


	4. Chapter 4

The current tore Jagan and every which direction, taking his glasses almost instantly. He didn't realize it, thought, until he was hauled onto the shore. Everything about five feet and farther from his face was blurry.

He could still make out who hauled him to shore, Cris of course, and that Cosmo was laying conked out on the bank.

"Hit his head, probably," Cris explained briefly. As Jagan coughed up water, he hoped his brother hadn't entered a coma or anything.

 _"We're not Dad!"_ Jagan recalled him saying earlier. _Ironic._

"Hey! You! Help me with your brother!" Cris ordered. She already had her hands under his arms, dragging him through the dirt.

Jagan scrambled up in silent compliance and hoisted Cosmo's feet with as much strength as he was able. What else was he supposed to do? There was no way he would be able to carry Cosmo on his own, much less all the way up to the top of the falls, even less with whatever fight Cris put up. He was having trouble merely keeping his end of his twin off the ground.

"Weak bitch," he heard Cris muttering. It only lowered his self esteem further.

The lack of trees in the area made him feel uncomfortably vulnerable, but he didn't feel any different once they entered the streets lined with buildings. Every alley and dark corner seemed to reek with the criminal activity that would no doubt infest as soon as the sun went down. Not that he could see any of it very well.

In all truth, Jagan was an extremely shy person. That's why he had to work up the courage to, after rehearsing several times in his head, ask a very obvious and important question: "Why'd you take us over the falls?"

"I said the only way to make a living around here was to sell people, pictures of people, or drugs, right?" Cris said. "Well, I can think of quite a few customers who'd want to buy you guys, each with their own reasons."

Jagan was terrified to think of what those reasons could possibly be, but still he complied when Cris directed him to lay Cosmo on the ground in front of a dusty old building while she practically kicked down its door. Plumes of dust billowed out as an aftereffect.

"You must be the one who had the glasses by how much you squint," Cris observed as Jagan did the same with the room. Self-consciously he stopped his squinting, only to subconsciously start up again so that he could see his surroundings better.

There were quite a few chairs that had dust settling on them after it finished dancing in the sunlight streaming through the boarded up windows that casted broken shadows.

"Gosh, are you not even gonna ask?" Cris complained after a long silence. "This room was where I'm auctioning you guys off, if you were wondering!"

Jagan flinched as he noticed the boxes to what he supposed acted as pedestals in front of the chairs. The podium in the middle of them would've been distinct to anybody with better eyesight.

"Alright, now pick this kid back up and take him to the back room with me," Cris ordered, taking her end again as Jagan took his. He almost couldn't; it'd been too long of a walk from the river to there.

In the "back room" there were no windows, so the only light came from what sunlight found its way out of the main room and a couple of phone flashlights held by gruff-looking people. It illuminated the not-so-gruff-looking people who were tied up on the ground.

"Cris! You didn't even have to bind yours!" one of the gruff people commented.

Cris dropped her end of Cosmo in a corner, not doing much good for his already damaged head. "Yeah, well, I lucked out when this one conked out, and the other one's some sorta trained dog," she bragged, putting her hand on Jagan's shoulder to shove him into a sitting position. He hated her calling him a dog and the laugh of her comrades when he didn't protest, but there wasn't much he could do to defend himself.

"Who're they? What's their worth?" the other person asked.

"No way you're taking my share of the spoils, but they're Harrises," Cris let on. "If papa Harris dares to stick his nose in here again, I'm sure he'll pays pretty penny for them. If he doesn't, then someone else is bound to pay the same for whatever reason they've got."

"Harrises?" the person questioned. "Sons? But papa Harris has no sons."

"And that's where I stop explaining," Cris growled firmly. The two gruff people only huffed in response because they knew how stubborn she could be.

 _"Papa Harris"_ must be Cal, Jagan noted mentally. _I sure hope he's the one who buys us._

Cris sat herself down on the floor in front of her prizes, pulling out her phone only to grumble when she saw it was waterlogged. She seemed satisfied enough when she counted all eight chocolate bars, though, before she tore one open and chowed down.

"Whoa! Is that a Holden I see?!" she suddenly exclaimed through her mouth full of sweets. Her gaze was directed towards a girl in the corner opposite of the one Cosmo was splayed out in. She sat close enough to Jagan for him to be able to see her clearly.

"Holden's own," the person closest to the captive confirmed, making a pun out of the brand of whiskey. "His own daughter. I wasn't able to grab his son, who's probably gonna be lurking the streets for her. He put up a big fight."

The girl must've done the same because he had her hands tied behind her back, and her feet bound together. Still, fear could be seen in the pale features that her stark black hair framed.

Jagan heard murmuring on his other side. His attention was drawn in that direction, to Cosmo, who stirred. Slowly, he sat up, and all eyes were on him as he realized the environment at just about the same speed.  
"Okay, Cris," he scolded, "what theー"

"Someone get me some rope!" Cris demanded, and as soon as it was handed to her, she made quick work of binding Cosmo before he could react.

"Wha... what?!" Cosmo sputtered. "Jagan! You're not tied! Untie me!"

"Don't make me bind you, too!" Cris threatened, holding more rope.

Jagan thought an attempt at escape would be better than none at all, so he moved to follow his brother's pleads. It was futile as Cris carried out her threat.

"Customers are coming!" someone announced as they stuck their head into the room. "Put the merchandise out on the podium!"

"Merchandise...?" Cosmo wondered, but Cris dragged them out and onto the boxes, standing close behind them in case they made any other attempts of escape. The Holden girl and other unmentioned captive were on the opposite side of the podium.

The "customers" filtered in as the sun set, every seat filled by the time it was dark. Lanterns were lit and hung on the cieling to help illuminate.

Jagan tried to scan the crowd for someone who could possibly be Cal, but his eyesight was so bad that every face was a blur. He only hoped he could recognize his dad's doppelgänger's voice while the bidding went on.

A man approached the podium and rang a bell to single the start. "Cris! You're up first. Show us your merch."

Cris stepped forward. "I have two young men of around... seventeen up here," she introduced, guessing their ages correctly. "They _are_ Harrises if that little detail matters to anyone. I'll start the bid at 500 for a single one of them, but I'll offer a bundle starting at 900 for the both of them."

"I'd like to propose a third option," a female spoke up from the bidders. Everyone turned to face her. "The Harrises and the Holden in a bundle."

"There's a Holden?" Cosmo commented under his breath as he leaned forward to see.

"Sellers, discuss," the podium man instructed.

"I say we set it at 1,500 and split it in three; I get two thirds and you get one, since I've got two here and you've only got the one," Cris offered. The other seller grunted in agreement.

"So I'm hearing 1,500 from you, then, miss?" the podium man checked with the female bidder.

"Yes," she confirmed, pulling her hood farther over her face. That was the moment that Jagan realized she was even wearing one.

"Do I hear 1,600? 1,600?" the auctioneer asked. "Going once... going twice..."

"Agh, 1,600!" someone interjected, raising their hand. Jagan's heart skipped a beat when the voice sounded exactly like his dad's. It was Cal!

"1,700," the female countered.

"2,000!" a third voice raised, entering the building. They wore a ski mask to disguise themselves.

"Psh. 3000," the female countered again. "I'll bid all night if I have to."

"No you won't," the third person argued, "because I've got 10,000 on my hands right now."

To everyone's surprise, the female shot up out of her seat with a gun raised and pointed at the late stranger. "Only Holdens have money like that to spare. Remove the mask, back out of the bid, or I shoot."

"Not only Holdens have money like that," the supposed Cal argued. "I'll raise 11,000."

"Then I'll raise 20,000," the stranger countered. The room was silent.

"Okay... going once... going twice... Sold! To the stranger in the mask!" the auctioneer announced.

Cris and the other seller nearly salivated at the thought of so much money, untying their captives' foot bindings to herd them to the buyer. Only Cosmo put up much of a fight. The Holden girl was surprisingly eager to be sold.

"TAKE OFF THAT DAMN MASK!" the female bidder shouted, but the stranger only handed over his money and turned tail out the door. A gunshot blasted through the wall, luckily missing the Holden and Harris kids as they ducked into an alley at least five blocks away.

"Steph! Oh, Steph, thank you! I knew you've come!" the Holden girl squealed. That was the only thing that persuaded Cosmo to stick around to hear more instead of grabbing Jagan and running. Also, the ties on their hands might've been a bit of a hindrance.

The stranger peeled off his mask, his face unfamiliar to the Harrises, but undeniably that of a Holden kid. "You're welcome, sis," he said, pulling the girl into an embrace.

"So you're both Holdens?" Cosmo mused aloud. That was one of the main differences between him and Jagan.

The Holdens looked a bit confused by not being immediately recognized. "Yeah. But why am I getting the feeling that you're not really Harrises?"

"Because... we should go," Cosmo excused poorly, taking his brother's wrist and pulling him out of the alley.

Steph scoffed. "Obviously not Harrises. They don't know the first thing about getting around Crystal Falls at night."

Jagan stopped dead in his tracks. Cosmo looked to him when he couldn't pull him any farther and saw his twin's eyes pleading not to lead him blindly into danger.

"What about getting around Crystal Falls at night, then?" Cosmo asked.

"Always travel with a light," Steph instructed, clicking on a flashlight. "Criminals see the light first, think you're a police officer, and hide before they can see otherwise. Actual police officers are also more likely to trust you. Especially if you're traveling with a pair of Holdens." He marched forward as his sister followed, assuming they would do the same. Reluctantly, they did.

"Where to?" Steph asked.

"... The falls," Cosmo answered tentatively. He recieved the strange looks he guessed he would. "Please."

"Whatever," Steph muttered with a roll of his eyes.

His sister fell back to match Jagan's pace. "What's so special about the falls?" she asked him. There was no hint of any hostility in her voice.

Trying to get me to talk and come out of my shell, Jagan figured. People were always doing that to him. "It's... it's how we're getting home." He looked to Cosmo to see if he approved of the answer.

"It's a complicated story we'd rather not share," Cosmo added. Jagan thanked him silently.

The four entered the treeless forest, but suddenly heard a fifth presence stalking them through the unkempt grass.

"Run," Steph ordered sternly after scanning the area breifly with his flashlight, and they moved quickly to the top of the waterfall. While it was a cornered space, it was the only direction that could be guaranteed that their stalker wasn't in.

"Knew you were a Holden," someone behind them snarled. It was the female from earlier.

"Steph! What do we do?!" the Holden girl worried.

"Jump," Cosmo ordered. "Trust us." The Holdens were wary to take the advice.

Cosmo lept over the rail after the click of a gun cocking, and Jagan followed. The last thing they heard before water swarmed their ears was a gunshot and a scream.


End file.
